Climate change threatens our food supply, health, economic growth, security, and global peace. Greenhouse gases from human activities are the most significant driver of climate change. Electricity production, transportation, and industrial activities are responsible for nearly 80% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. To fight a changing climate while meeting the ever-increasing energy demand, we need advanced state-of-the-art technologies for clean-energy generation and transportation.
Plasma Power Propulsion Laboratory (3P Lab) explores the enormous potential of plasmas, especially low-temperature plasmas, towards clean energy production, high-efficiency propulsion, and emission-free transportation. Plasma – ionized gases comprised of ions, electrons, excited species, etc., holds the key to our future energy, environment, and transportation. Even though plasma research existed for more than a century, the recent technological innovations in power electronics and advanced manufacturing have opened the door to a new world for energy researchers. 3P Lab uses low-temperature, non-thermal plasmas as a tool to access unconventional pathways to produce energy that is inaccessible to conventional energy systems.
3P Lab research team is truly multi-disciplinary in nature. The team members have backgrounds in engineering, physics, materials, chemistry, and data science. The Lab performs cutting-edge research projects like carbon-neutral E-fuels, plasma synthesis, nanoenergetics, power management of hybrid electric vehicles, supersonic and hypersonic propulsion, advanced laser diagnostics and spectroscopy, micro-scale power generation. The Lab’s mission is to develop technologies for reliable, robust, and sustainable clean energy. 3P Lab utilizes experimental techniques, advanced laser diagnostics, and detailed numerical simulations to develop fundamental as well as applied knowledge of advanced energy systems and low-temperature plasma processes.
Learn more about 3P Lab research